Interfaith Dialogue

Mike Ghouse

Mike Ghouse

The Muslim majority is deeply concerned about it, and we urge Muslims around the world in general and Pakistani Muslims in particular to create a fund to rebuild the temple that is the least one can do to fellow countrymen. Every society has a responsibility to guard the safety of its minorities, women, seniors, and the children; no one should feel fearful of the majorities. That is the hallmark of civil societies…..

Sudarsan Raghavan

Sudarsan Raghavan

Marriages between Christians and Muslims have survived the chaotic upheavals that the Central African Republic has endured since gaining independence from former colonial power France in 1960. But the latest cataclysm is shattering these mixed unions, dividing families and communities…..

Imam Abdullah Antepli

Imam Abdullah Antepli

Unfortunately, the future of Judaism and Islam on American college campuses is not a sports rivalry where it's trophies that are at stake. I see urgency around Jewish-Muslim relations in general and in particular on college campuses in the United States…..

Jennifer Dobner

Jennifer Dobner

The differences inherent in religious diversity play a huge rule in domestic political issues both in the U.S. and abroad. In places like Egypt, Iraq and Afghanistan, the conflicts often erupt in violence and death because individuals would rather kill than accept governance or share society with those of different beliefs….

Hatice Sağdiç Yildiz

Hatice Sagdiç Yildiz

To cover up the investigations, the newspapers close to the government use many derogatory labels for the movement, such as "promoters of light or moderate Islam," "the protestantisation of Islam," "collaborators and allies of foreign intelligence agencies," and "Christian missionaries under an Islamic guise."…

Eugene Volokh

Eugene Volokh

This doesn’t mean that Christianity and Islam are equally sound, morally or theologically. Most Christians and most Muslims would disagree with any such equation, thinking their religion to be better than the other. But whatever the difference between the religions, it can’t be that one is a “political system” and the other is not, or that one seeks “world domination” and the other does not…..

Khalid Zaheer

Khalid Zaheer

The good aspect of behaviour of the Bhaktas and Sufis was in the manner they showed respect to each other, the peace and harmony they promoted, and the concern for the needs of humans they displayed, irrespective of an individual's faith. What needs to be avoided, however, is the confusion that this closeness can sometimes generate—for instance, the understanding that the truth can be sought in various different ways, with each way being a legitimate path leading to God.....

Khalid Zaheer

Khalid Zaheer

One important reason why there is little freedom of choice among Muslims is the law that requires apostates to be killed. Clearly, it is not an Islamic law. However, many Muslims believe it to be a part of Islamic Shari'ah. To believe that Muslim apostates must face death is at odds with the Muslim aspiration to convert others to their faith. If they want to have the latter facility, they must revisit their stance on the former.....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

In this regard, it is instructive to bear in mind that the Quran is not a book of dialogue. It is a book of statements. When you are issuing a statement, you can say everything and you are also allowed to give value judgment. But dialoguing is not meant for issuing statements. Rather, it is for the purpose of mutual learning and mutual understanding….

Jihad Hassan Muhammad

Synonymous with the parade are tens of thousands of people who enjoy floats, marching bands and vast entertainment from the sidewalks of Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd. in the Black community of South Dallas. Found in what many would call “Dallas’ Black Mecca,” or “Sunny South Dallas,” is the Nation of Islam mosque under the leadership of the Honourable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Muhammad Mosque No. 48 has a front row seat as the parade passes down MLK Blvd. This year a visionary from the mosque, Kamora Muhammad, who is also a member of the MGT-GCC, a training class for women in the Nation of Islam, thought it would be a good community outreach to get involved with the parades…..

New Age Islam News Bureau

One of the baffling challenges that the religionists the world over face today is that of inter-faith relations in general and Muslim-Christian ties in particular. Given the history of intense conflicts and grave injustices perpetrated by both communities, the adherents of the two largest religions of the world are laden with the burden of harsh memories. While the history witnessed the bitter reality of the Crusades, the present plight of Christians in many parts of the Muslim world continues to create misconceptions about Islam in the minds of many Christians. In such an environment which actually seems to promote division, a two-day international seminar on “Building Communities of Peace: Muslim-Christian Relations in Asia” gave glad tidings to the mainstream peace-loving Muslims and Christians. This event was organised by Francis Xavier Movement (Italy), Henry Martyn Institute (Hyderabad), Zakir Hussain Institute of Islamic Studies (New Delhi), Indialogue Foundation (New Delhi) and Islamic Studies Association (Delhi). ....

Gabriele Barbati

Yet, few know that it is a Muslim who opens and closes the only door to this holiest of Christian sites. In fact, it's two Muslims: one man from the Joudeh family and another man from the Nuseibeh family, two Jerusalem Palestinian clans who have been the custodians of the entrance to the Holy Sepulchre since the 12th century....

Khalid Zaheer

Khalid Zaheer

Muslims believe that the Qur’an is too difficult to be understood directly and therefore they need the support of their scholars and Hadith reports to understand it. Unless Muslim scholars and intelligent non-scholars decide that the Qur’an has to be the ultimate criterion for them in all religious matters, it will not be possible for Muslims to relate properly with fellow Muslims and with non-Muslims....

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

We have to separate the two issues of social harmony and religious truth. We are all seekers. We have to try to find the truth. This is a continued process, and an eternal one. We have to try to achieve conviction. For this, we have to study and interact. This is a process. Interfaith dialogue is for this purpose of mutual learning and sharing. Everyone must share his experience regarding the truth. Everyone must try to learn from other groups. This is healthy interaction. ....

Farida Khanam

Farida Khanam

Now, difference is not simply a part of religion. In fact, it is an essential part of nature. It is a part of God’s creation plan itself. So we have no option other than to live with differences. Harmony can only be maintained if we learn the formula of ‘difference management’ rather than seeking to eliminate differences. We have to understand that we have no option but to tolerate differences. “Be tolerant; enjoin what is right; and avoid the ignorant.”...

Naghma Siddiqi

An important principle of dialogue in this regard is that of forgiveness. The Hindu scriptures use the word Titiksha, defined as forbearance;[19] while the word used in Islamic scriptures for this is Maghfira, meaning forgiveness, as explained in the following tradition of the Prophet of Islam, reported in the Musnad Ahmad ibn Hanbal: “Jarir reported that the Prophet of Islam said, ‘He who does not show mercy to others will not be shown mercy. Anyone who does not forgive will not be forgiven.’”...

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

At the same time, we are living in a world of differences – of multi-religious, multi-cultural, multi-ethnic societies. In an effort to eliminate differences, people fight amongst themselves, not realizing that differences cannot be removed. A certain reformer has rightly said that nature abhors uniformity. This means that ‘difference’ is a part of nature and it exists in every aspect of life including religion….

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

...suggestions made by Islam with regard to promoting harmony among the followers of different religions are the only viable solution. Any alternative suggestion, however attractive it might appear, would be either impracticable or counter-productive....

Ram Puniyani

Ram Puniyani

It is in this light that three major statements from leaders, two of them religious and one political have come as a breath of fresh air, delinking religion from violence and espousing the peace making role of religion. Surely, religion is the most complex social phenomenon. It does encompass the element of moral values, values of humanism, so to say, on one side….

Nawar Fakhri Ezzy

Nawar Fakhri Ezzy

All religions have commonalities, which should be acknowledged and differences that should be appreciated. More importantly, our humanity unites all of us and religion constitutes only one aspect of our human lives, which should help us live in peace instead of being an obstacle…..

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Maulana Wahiduddin Khan

Islam’s approach to the entire problem is much more realistic, in that it accepts ideological differences. Once having accepted these differences, it then advocates the policy of tolerance and respect for one another in everyday dealings. This is on a parallel with the principle expressed in the English saying ‘Let’s agree to disagree.’....

Muhammad Younas

Muhammad Younas

As I listened to her quietly, my thoughts took me to the streets of Pakistan where we have hundreds of mosques and Imambargahs that have shut their doors to such activities, social gatherings and charitable causes. And then I just wished…

Ram Jethmalani

Ram Jethmalani

The Hinduism of India, unlike Judaism, Christianity or Islam, is not a religion, but a somewhat complex culture and civilisation of ancient origin. No one knows when it was born, but it certainly predates the birth of the western Abrahamic religions by several centuries....

Islam did not enter India by jihad or by
violent invasion, but through trade and peace. The first mosque, Cheraman Juma
Masjid, in Kodungallur taluk, Kerala was established by the Arabs in 612 AD,
while the Prophet was still alive, on land gifted by the Hindus. Even before
Islam had been established in Arabia, trade with the Malabar region flourished.
After the advent of Islam, Arab merchants became propagators of the new
religion, and numerous people living in the coastal areas of Kerala accepted
the principles of the new religion and converted to Islam. Islam was welcomed,
as was Judaism and Christianity before it, and so was the construction of the
mosque.

Bud Heckman

Bud Heckman

When KAICIID opened, some naysayers said it was nothing but a stark attempt by the Saudis to distract from their own repressions and failures at home. Others did not look the gift horse in the mouth. As one Israeli rabbi shared with me, how can one really argue with Saudi support for bringing a Jewish Israeli, Palestinian Muslims, and other key conversation partners together without putting any real strictures on the frame of the dialogue?

Irshaad Hussain

They gave to each thing they encountered its rightful due, drawing out from each its unique truth - the nature with which it was created - since it is by standing on truth, by being true to one's profound metaphysical nature that one acquires substance, and gains a firm foothold in reality. And it is from this acting on truth, from "...bearing witness to the truth." (John, 18:37) that the felicitous bond with the ultimate Truth, Al-Haqq, emerges. "God is the Truth (the Real - Al-Haqq)" (Qur'an 22:6)…